Hello bloggers! Welcome to PAEP’s blog! Let me introduce myself – my name is Keisha, and I’m an intern at PAEP. Interning at PAEP is very rewarding, not only because I know in some small way that I am helping out a bigger cause (which is getting art programs in more schools throughout the Philadelphia region), but also because I get to work with, meet, and talk to the amazing people that make it all happen.
I will be talking to a few of the teaching artists that have done their artist residencies through PAEP. I was lucky enough to get a great first interview with teaching artist Marie Elcin, a fiber artist, who has just completed her residency with Comly Elementary School with Grade 3 teacher Cindy O’Donnell and Principal Micki Byruch.
Marie in green on the left
Marie, who has been teaching art in various community settings since she was a teenager, has been doing placements in public schools for 3 years through PAEP. Most of her experience is teaching embroidery, fabric printing, and bookmarking among other things to children ages 5-13 and with grades 3-6.
Marie has a BFA from Moore College of Art and Design with a major in 2D Fine Arts and minor in Textile Design, and now she is currently pursuing a Masters in Art Education at Tyler School of Art at Temple University. Marie was nice enough to take some time out of her hectic schedule to answer a few questions about all of her wonderful experiences as a PAEP teaching artist.
What was the program about?
The TAP program provides an opportunity for an artist and a classroom teacher to really collaborate in a long-term project focused on integrating arts with literacy, math, science, and social studies to help improve student learning in specific areas. For example, the classroom teacher may have noted that her students are struggling with main idea and details in reading comprehension or writing . The artist and teacher then find ways to support learning about main idea and supporting details through art-looking and artmaking. In the residency I’ve been working on this school year at Comly Elementary School with Mrs. O’Donnell and her 3rd grade we targeted main idea/details in literacy, river and watershed concepts in science, and maps and understanding communities in social studies. The long-term residency gave us a chance to bond as co-teachers and adapt our projects to the specific needs of the 3rd graders in her class.
What were the highlights of your experience? Anything specific?
As a fiber artist I’m always super excited when I see 25 eight-year-olds focused over an embroidery hoop plunging needle and thread through the stretched fabric and loving it! It’s amazing how quickly they learn to thread a needle and tie a knot on their own when they are too impatient to wait for a teacher to make it around the room to help. It’s a fine-motor skill even adults find difficult, but they do it!
One great highlight of the residency was on the day I had the kids screenprint a world map onto fabric. One student, who barely spoke English and rarely talked, pulled the squeegee and ink across the screen, saw the results, lit up, and asked “I do it 100 times?!?!” On the same day, one special needs child became fascinated with the process and kept telling me, “It’s MAGIC!” when the print was revealed.
Kids get so engaged when they get to work with their hands and make something. I feel so privileged that I get to put the tools and materials into their hands for them to learn in a different way.
What were the best practices you learned in your arts residency?
I’ve learned so much working with my teacher partner! First of all, I’ve got lots of new classroom management tricks under my belt. She does a “minute of quiet” if kids start to get noisy. She never talks over their chatter. She’s a pro at the overhead projector and helping them read information. She showed me how much simpler I needed to make directions and handouts for 8-year-old eyes. She acts things out so learning is entertaining but also incredibly concrete.
I’ve learned how important it is to really get to know a partner teacher and build trust before entering their classroom. Open lines of communication and trust are essential for a successful residency. Good planning, preparation of materials, and very clear and visual instructions and examples make teaching a lesson so much more effective. Co-teaching is a fulfilling practice- the artist receives the benefit of having a master classroom manager in the room who has complex knowledge about the individual learners and the content they’ve been learning. The kids are excited to have a new face and experience but still have someone who can make very literal connections between what the artist is sharing and what they’ve have already been learning. The teacher gets to learn and experience a new artform along with the kids. So in a successful residency the students, teacher, and artist all become learners in a reciprocal relationship.
How have your experiences been with PAEP?
I’ve really appreciated the opportunities that PAEP has provided me to work with students and teachers! As a fiber artist working in a more traditional craft, it’s important to me to pass on the hand skills I’ve learned to a new generation. Each residency I have with PAEP is a chance for me to perfect my craft and my teaching. When you teach something you learn it all over again but in more profound ways. Artists love their studio time, but it’s an isolated experience. Being a teaching artist allows me to connect with a larger audience not only through my art in a viewer/artwork relationship, but in a maker to maker relationship that may have significant impact on people’s (especially children’s) lives. I’m just happy I get to do what I do. Teaching others feeds my own creativity. I hope this work flows into positive outcomes for the futures of my students and partner teachers. It has definitely led to positive outcomes for me.
Describe your experience in 5 words.
Transformative. Tactile. Collaborative. Expansive. Satisfying.
A student proudly showing off her artwork.
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Let Art Freedom Ring © is an unique program in that it selects eight Philadelphia elementary and middle schools with limited arts education budgets, assigning them a local artist who mentors students at each school to create an interpretation of the liberty bell.
